this post was submitted on 03 Mar 2026
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Except it isn't, because you have to access the data of that GPS receiver somehow.
I'm so fed up with people having this misconception that GPS somehow on its own exfiltrates one's position. It doesn't. You're literally just using a pre-defined arrangement of satellites that broadcast their IDs to establish location. It's entirely local because GPS signal is only received by people.
So no, just by having GPS, you can't be found by anyone. Not even governments or the CIA.
Now, if that GPS receiver feeds into a smart system that is exposed to the internet... that is a different topic as there's tons of ways to have apps preinstalled and pre-approved that can read the GPS receiver data and send it off to a third party. It can even be built into the OS.
However, permanently internet connected cars aren't that widespread even today - most actually tend to rely on the driver's phone and runs a very thin layer of smart stuff that simply enables the phone to use the car dashboard as a terminal.